This was the American contingent sent to take part in the U.S.–Singapore Joint Military Exercise.
But this joint military exercise between the United States and Singapore hardly deserved the name. Singapore had sent only two minesweepers, while the United States had deployed an entire carrier fleet.
Who the hell knew why a small-scale exercise aimed at combating terrorist organizations required a carrier fleet?
By comparison, Singapore was merely there to make up the numbers. There was nothing remotely joint about the exercise.
It was not that the Americans were throwing their weight around and wanted to limit Singapore's involvement. Singapore itself wanted as little to do with the matter as possible.
Others might not have known the Americans' intentions, but Singapore's leadership could guess a thing or two.
After all, the joint military exercise proposal they had submitted explicitly stated its purpose and significance. One item in particular stood out: during the exercise, designated waters would be sealed off at irregular intervals, with all vessels and personnel prohibited from entering or leaving.
At first glance, that seemed unremarkable, but a closer look revealed that something was wrong.
Exercises like these generally followed a fixed script. When to impose a blockade and when to withdraw were arranged in advance. Otherwise, with the Strait of Malacca as busy as it was, how was anyone supposed to operate if all of Singapore's waters were suddenly sealed off?
The Americans could not possibly have failed to understand that. Since they insisted on this exercise plan, they clearly had another objective.
As far as Singapore's leadership could see, that objective could only be Gold Island, which belonged to Phantom Immortal Technology. Nothing else in Singapore could have attracted their interest.
The last thing Singapore wanted was to get caught between the United States and Phantom